Man who sold rifle to Newtown mom pleads guilty

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A man who sold a rifle to the mother of the Newtown school shooter has pleaded guilty to failing to have a buyer answer a question on a form related to citizenship.

The transaction that led to Krystopher DiBella's guilty plea involved a different customer.

DiBella worked at Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, about 60 miles northeast of Newtown. The Associated Press has reported Nancy Lanza bought from Riverview a Bushmaster rifle used in the December shooting by her son. Adam Lanza killed his mother at their home and then killed 26 people, mostly first-graders, and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

DiBella pleaded guilty on Monday in Bridgeport to aiding and abetting the failure to make a proper entry on the form, the U.S. attorney's office said. Prosecutors and DiBella's lawyers have agreed to recommend three years of probation for the 25-year-old West Suffield resident.

A telephone message left Tuesday with DiBella's attorney was not immediately returned.

Riverview lost its federal firearms license after the December massacre because of hundreds of violations over the past several years, according to a document prepared by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Some of the violations included letting a felon buy ammunition, selling firearms without completing background checks and failing to record information completely, accurately and in a timely manner, the document said.

A Riverview attorney has said the ATF was discussing a temporary shutdown of the store last year and the revocation came about a week after the school shooting.